Victory Arch at Madison Square ca. 1919
This monument, conceived during World War I both to spur enlistment in and patriotic support for America's military efforts overseas and to memorialize New York City's war dead, became mired in committee politics long enough for the November 1918 armistice to have ended the war. Accordingly, the structure was transformed into a municipal Victory Arch, using temporary material and design by architect Thomas Hastings (1850-1929). The project took form with all the speed earlier denied it, and it was completed in time for the triumphant homecoming of New York's 27th troop division in late March 1919.
Subtlety was not the concern of such grand civic gestures. Modeled after the ancient Arch of Constantine, the arch featured tripartite construction and an honor court displaying allegorical figures of Peace, Justice, Power, and Wisdom. Relief panels commemorated important battles, war service organizations, and the contributions of American industries, such as shipbuilding and munitions manufacture. Rising to a stunning height of 100 feet, the white archway's ample form straddled 125 feet of Madison Square at the intersection of Broadway, 24th Street and FifthAvenue. The purposeful siting probably reminded many New Yorkers of a similar arch, also made of plaster and wood, erected at this location in 1899 to salute Admiral George Dewey's victory over the Spanish at Manila Bay in 1898.
Like its predecessor, the Victory Arch enlisted volunteer talent from the National Sculpture Society and was constructed with the expectation that it would be rebuilt in some permanent form. However,just as the earlier "imperishable" monument had failed to materialize when subscriptions lagged and Dewey's popularity ebbed, plans for the World War I memorial erupted in controversy over the commission's choice of artist and the proposed iconography. As debate escalated over the necessity of perpetuating this "Altar of Extravagance," as Fiorello La Guardia branded the project in 191 when campaigning for the presidency of the Board of Aldermen, the arch joined New York's City's growing registry of demolished commemorative structures.
